An American researcher has embarked on a project
to scan the inner structures of every species of fish
known to science – all 33,000 of them
WORDS: DR HELEN SCALES IMAGES: ADAM SUMMERST
here is a small lab on
Friday Harbour, San
Juan Island, just off
the US state of
Washington. Here, marine
biologist Adam Summers
spends much of his time
painstakingly loading fish
after fish into a CT scanner to
produce detailed images that
reveal their intricate skeletons
and inner structures. The
project began inauspiciously
several years ago when
Summers would pay covert
night-time visits to local
hospitals, begging to use their
CT scanners during periods of
downtime. “We would stuff
dead sharks and rays and
things into bags, so nobody
could tell what they were,”
he says.
After amassing a library of
several successful scans, hebegan sharing his results on
Twitter. To his surprise he got
a huge response, with many
biologists asking him to scan
their favourite fish. “I jokingly
replied that I was going to
#ScanAllFish,” he says. At the
time, he didn’t really believe
that would happen because it
was taking 12 hours to scan
three or four fish, and there
are more than 33,000 species
to get through. But with the
current total of scans standing
at 3,827 he reckons the project
could be completed in as little
as two years, though they may
have to skip a few of the
biggest, rarest fish.
Thanks to the success of his
images, Summer applied for a
grant for his own CT scanner,
which has been installed in his
labs. Every scan is
immediately posted online foranyone to use, with Summers
not asking for any credit. The
project has already racked up
more than half a million
downloads, with everyone
from scientists and engineers
to artists and teachers using
the images. “We’re exposing
our data to a world of people
who have great brains and will
do far better things with it
than we ever could,” he says.
Anyone can use the scanner to
scan their favourite species,
provided they make the data
freely available. “If you come
to the island you can bring a
suitcase full of dead things
and CT them,” says Summers.
He is also collaborating with
museums worldwide to scan
their collections. It is hoped
that these ‘digital dissections’
will allow people to see inside
fish and manipulate them inways that is just not possible
with preserved specimens.
As well as CT scans, Summers
also makes fish skeletons
visible through their skin
using dyes that stain bone red
and cartilage blue. He
bleaches the fish white with
hydrogen peroxide and
dissolves its flesh with the
digestive enzyme, trypsin,
leaving only skin and
connective tissue. The fish is
then photographed while
immersed in glycerine, which
renders the unstained parts
invisible. 7[email protected]Dr Helen Scales is a marine
biologist, writer and
broadcaster. Her latest book is
Eye of The Shoal. She tweets
from @helenscales.GOTTA
SCAN
’EM
ALL
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